


the bombing of arcadia

by chadsuke



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 02:23:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16337987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chadsuke/pseuds/chadsuke
Summary: It's 2010 and Chloe Price is sixteen years old when she gets the strangest email she's ever seen."Things are really fucked up and complicated, and I need your help,"it says.She's never been good at saying no to Max.





	the bombing of arcadia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning in regards to archive warnings - you can expect all of the issues that come up in the game to also come up in this fic. Sexual assault, the Dark Room, abuse, death, etc etc.
> 
> Currently have no archive warnings applied because those things aren't DIRECTLY in the fic (as of yet?), simply being referenced.

When she wakes up, her head aches.

Maybe Chloe shouldn’t have drank so much last night – it hadn’t FELT like a lot, then! – but it’s not as though she hasn’t gone to school completely hungover before, so whatever. None of the teachers really say anything to her about it. They handle her with gloves, like she’s fragile and gonna break and shit, and it’s both annoying and useful.

Mom and the douchebag, if she sees him, are gonna be the only ones that have anything to say about it.

Chloe forces herself up with a groan. Right. Much as she’d rather stay in fucking bed all day, she needs to face the day.

She changes, tossing on jeans and a T-shirt and digs around til she finds her phone hiding in the bathroom.

“Chloe!” Mom yells from downstairs. “Breakfast is ready! And can you grab my phone and purse?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chloe mumbles under her breath, scrolling through her texts while she blindly makes her way to her Mom’s room. A few missed messages… Ouch, some from Mom last night, that’ll bite her…

E-mail says she’s tagged in a picture, and she grimaces as she opens it – it’s her and Rachel Amber. She still can’t believe that _the_ Rachel Amber showed up at the concert and saved her ass. Her eye stings just thinking about it – it still looked bad in the mirror, when she checked.

There’s some class related emails, the usual spam, way too many Facebook alerts, and-

Huh. She doesn’t recognize that email.

 **Please read ASAP, it’s Max** reads the subject, and Chloe nearabout drops her phone. Hey. What the fuck?

“Chloe!” yells her Mom, again. “Get down here!”

God, shut UP. “You’ll have to wait, Max,” Chloe tells her phone, slipping it into her pocket and nabbing her Mom’s phone and purse. Normally she’d take her time, poke around a little – she’s got a valid reason to be in here, after all, and can’t get yelled at for fucking once.

But her phone is burning a hole in her pocket and Mom might be burning the bacon downstairs and she just needs to get this over with.

“Finally,” Mom says, as she steps down the final stairs. “Set them on the table.”

“Sure,” she says, and she does. The scent of bacon fills the air, and it smells so good even if she’s honestly SO sick of diner type food, but right now she doesn’t want to fight, just wants to shove it all down and read.

She’s tense. Curling and uncurling her hands in fists as she walks back to her Mom and it’s probably really noticeable, because Mom looks up and frowns. “Chloe?” she asks, because this isn’t her usual ‘fuck the world’ teenitude but something different. “Is something wrong?”

“Max sent me an email today,” Chloe blurts, because this is something she can’t contain to herself, and her Mom’s eyes widen before she smiles.

It transforms her face, really – Chloe wonders when the last time she saw her genuinely smile like this was. “Did she? I’m glad. I hoped you two would get back in touch. How is she?”

Chloe shrugs, grabbing a plate, and her Mom obliges and fills it for her. Eggs and bacon. Yum? “Dunno. I haven’t read it yet. _You_ kept yelling for me.”

Mom doesn’t look apologetic at all, even as Chloe scarfs down her breakfast so fast she thinks she burns her tongue. “You are going to be late, missy – you missed the bus. That’s why David’s driving you this morning.”

Thoughts of Max slip away as she gags on her bacon and then glares at her Mom. “Him? Really? I hate him.”

“You don’t _hate_ him, Chloe.”

“Yes, I do, he’s an asshole.”

Mom’s face hardens. “I wasn’t going to talk to you about your behavior this morning because of Max, but if you keep this up, I _will._ ”

Chloe makes a face. “Fuck, fine.” She shoves down the last bit of her greasy, diner-style breakfast and drops her dish in the sink. “I don’t need a lecture.”

“You do, but I’m going easy on you,” she says instead. “Grab his keys from the ashtray and head out there.”

David’s just finishing up working on his car when the teenager makes it out there, and she’s SO grateful she didn’t have to hear more of his bullshit. The less time spent around this asshole, the better.

“Hey,” he says, without even so much as a greeting. “What happened to your eye? You shouldn’t be getting into fights.”

She scoffs. “You should see the other guy,” she retorts, climbing into the passenger seat. “I gave as good as I got, and _he_ started it.”

He slams his car door shut behind him and glares at her as he starts the car. “I don’t care who started it, you shouldn’t-“

They fight all the way to Blackwell, which is about par for the course with this douchebag. He has no idea how to say nice things at fucking ALL, and he’s SUCH a grade-a asshole that she’s pretty sure he’s never WANTED to say a nice thing in his life.

Her phone keeps burning a hole in her back pocket, and she hates him even fucking more for that.

“Thanks for the ride, asshole,” she tells him as she slams the car door shut behind her, and immediately stalks away. She has no specific spot to go – nothing except away from David and away from all of that.

She needs to head for class in a few, but Chloe doesn’t care. She needs to look. Needs to read.

 _ASAP_ , Max had said, and even if Max has been a royal awful friend for the past year or so Chloe still loves her SO much it’s not even embarrassing to say she loves Max. She perches on the edge of the fountain and pulls out her phone.

 **Please read ASAP, it’s Max** the subject still says, and she opens it with bated breath.

_Chloe,_

_I’m sorry for not talking to you. I’m sorry I’ve blown you off. I could keep apologizing this whole e-mail and it wouldn’t be enough. I’ve been an awful friend to you, and I want to make it better._

_But right now, things are really fucked up and complicated, and I need your help._

_I know, I know. I haven’t talked to you in like, a whole year and now I need YOUR help all of a sudden. I’m terrible. You can tell me all about it all you want, swear at me and yell at me and whatever, but I need you to help me still, please._

_Two things for me. For now, at least._

_First, I need you to tell Rachel Amber not to trust Nathan Prescott or Mark Jefferson. I know Nathan’s at your school right now. I don’t think Jefferson is, not yet, but you still need to tell her. It’s super important. And you avoid them, too! They’re dangerous. Super dangerous._

_And second, if she’s there, please befriend Kate Marsh. Please please please. I would if I was there, but I’m not, so if she IS there please be her friend. She needs it. And she’s really great and you won’t regret it!_

_Please tell me when you’ve done these things. Thank you. Don’t text me, that’s not my number anymore – this email’s best._

_Pirates forever?  
Max_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so! life is strange AU! 
> 
> the release of lis2 has gotten me on an lis kick - i just finished the first ep and holy shit LOVED it, and right now i'm going back to before the storm (as well as replaying the original game). this takes place during before the storm, and... it's gonna be a fun one!
> 
> you can find me at chadsuke on tumblr. thanks for reading!


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